Lincoln Was Dead Wrong After Gettysburg

Writing about the Civil War is always a challenge. Deciphering and unraveling the sometimes chaotic and often contradictory accounts of the men who were there is no small chore. This, however, is what makes working in history fun. It is also what can make history contentious. But, if you have the right mind set, that part can be entertaining as well.

Thus far I have avoided some of the most well-known disputes surrounding the campaign and battle of Gettysburg. I wanted to give you an account of those times without diving too deeply into distractions. But now, in the penultimate entry for this campaign, I am going to break my own rule. I am going to pick a fight and dispute one prominent man's opinion about what should have happened after the battle.

Of course, being an infantryman, I have absolutely no interest in a fair fight. So I am going to argue with a man who has been dead for 148 years.

His name was Abraham Lincoln.

Now the weekend after July Fourth 1863 must have been a banger. I have no idea how the man could have been sober, because all in one day, on the biggest day of celebration of our country, he got word that Robert E. Lee was defeated and retreating and that Vicksburg had fallen, and perhaps as many as 30,000 rebel soldiers had surrendered. After all the heartbreak, the soul-crushing weight and ache of the preceding two years, finally it seemed like things were coming together. But that is where my empathy with President Lincoln ends. This is because in the coming days and weeks he was obsessed with the idea that Meade should be pursuing and crushing Lee in one final battle. He thought that if Meade had pressed harder, the war would have been over, then and there. That summer. Lincoln had looked at the numbers and come to a conclusion.

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And he was dead wrong, because these were just numbers. Men are more than numbers, and units are more than the sum of their men. Understanding those two related facts is critical.

Meade did pursue, pressing up against the tail-end of Lee's columns, but he knew better than to press a poor position. Lee had, standing and walking, 45,000 of the best infantrymen this continent had ever known. Meade had, at the time, 65,000 men who met the same description. But that is not a crushing advantage. And here is where Lincoln's position starts to fall apart.

Yes, in the general vicinity there were something like 30,000 Pennsylvania "emergency" troops. And yes, when other scattered elements of the American army came under Meade's command you could make a claim that he had something like 110,000 troops available to use against Lee. And that is a lot of American blue. But at a certain point, the numbers do not add up. Let me take a moment to explain why.

Our mutual uncle, Sam, has me based in the west side of England now. Because I have a brand-new daughter, I spend more time than normal sprawled on the couch, with her four-square and falling asleep on my chest. If she fusses, I pace back and forth and tell her the story of Napoleon's 100-days, culminating in Waterloo, which never fails to put anyone to sleep. But you cannot read with a baby on your chest, so I have been watching more television than is my wont and reading less. One show appears to be on all the time over here in the UK. It is called Top Gear.

I guess you could say that it is a "lad" show, in that it is all about cars, engines, buddies, comparisons, and races. There are three hosts who are in their middle years but who unabashedly act like teenage boys who have just been given a platinum credit card and the keys to Jay Leno's garage. They race, slash around with new toys, and do fun stuff with cars ranging from the everyman suburban do-it-all sedan to the Bugatti Veryron, the fastest production car in the world. One does not require an IQ above 70 in order to enjoy this show. (Shockingly, my otherwise brilliant wife does not see the chaotic beauty in this program.) But it was while watching Top Gear that I figured out how to explain how wrong Lincoln was that summer.

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Sometimes horsepower does not add up.

So imagine a drag race. On Top Gear they do a lot of this sort of thing. And if you look at the surface numbers, the conclusion would seem forgone. One man has 475 HP available, the other merely 350, who is going to win? Well, if the horsepower is in a single vehicle, we are talking about design issues. But that is not the case.

At the starting line Meade has the equivalent of one steady and dependable SAAB sedan that graciously produces about 200 HP, and five VW Beetles (the originals, with about 55 HP each). Thus, he does have 475 HP on the line. And Lee has only a badly dented and rickety Porche 911, well past its prime but still putting out 350 HP. But we are talking about a drag race, so he only has to make it a quarter mile.

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Who would you bet on?

The Battle of Gettysburg was won, hands down, by the United States. But that victory came at a cost. Of the 11 Corps commanders Meade had on 30 June, those CEOs I talked about earlier, only four remained standing at the end of the battle. Seven of those Corps-level generals had been shot down, killed or wounded, during the clash. And lest you think that was unusual, roughly that same percentage of lost leaders goes down the chain. Division and brigade commanders, not to mention the regimental commanders, all had bled in equal proportions. So Meade had a whole new team, seven days after he took command. In other words, three-quarters of the lug nuts have been loosened on all four tires of his SAAB. Tell me, if you were driving that SAAB would you risk it all by gunning it?

Meade had to take a little time tightening those lugs nuts first. But he was not slow about the process. It is just that even if you are doing it by hand, something like that is going to cut in to your overall speed. And then you are still not going to go ripping off, because you do not yet know how this car really handles. So Meade followed, but he made no mad rush.

Lee, for his part, could not move all that fast himself, and anyone could see that. He had to leave nearly 7,000 badly wounded men behind because he just could not transport all of them, and guard the prisoners that the rebel Army of Northern Virginia had taken, and keep a screen to protect him along the Blue Ridge. So it was a much slower processional down both sides of that ridge that followed the Battle of Gettysburg. Eventually, however, there might have been a moment when Lee was well and truly trapped, and Meade was prepared to wait for that opportunity.

Following the battle there was a massive rainstorm. Indeed, the rain came down for most of the next week. That alone is not too difficult. Though let me tell you, roadmarching with a full load for 12 or 20 miles a day, through mud, is no joyride. It wears on you. But the rain was not Lee's problem. The Potomac was his problem. The river was in flood and Lee's only escape route, a temporary bridge, had been knocked out by Yankees back on the 6th of July. So now he was pinned, with almost his whole army, near where the Battle of Antietam had been fought the year before.

Lee, however, was not concerned. In fact, it seems that he was actually heartened. He had his men dig in, fortifying and preparing a defensive line which, while not contiguous, stretched almost seven miles. He was also able to call supplies forward from Virginia now, as well as start ferrying his wounded out of the area. Before long Lee was set. He had consolidated his army, and even been able to bring in his cavalry to wait on his flanks. At this point Lee was just begging for Meade to blunder in to his prepared defenses. Then, at least, something might be recovered from this disaster.

But Meade was still new, and though he had almost convinced himself to conduct an attack, he knew he needed those Corps commanders of his fully on-side. He saw the defenses, and knew his own forces, and thought that perhaps he had enough men now, maybe. But he also knew that you usually need a 3-to-1 advantage, at the minimum, to conduct a successful attack. He could only get that kind of ratio by some careful recon, or luck, or both.

By now it is the 12th of July and pressure from Meade's rear, Abraham Lincoln in particular, is building. Attack, attack, attack comes the chant. And Meade almost succumbs. He schedules a probing attack on Lee's defensive line for the 13th. His concept is that while this is a limited attack, it is also one that can be converted to a full assault if things are developing well. Meade still, apparently, has not sussed out what a trap Lee has prepared for him.

At his council of war this night, five of his Corps commanders, including two who are older and more senior to him, strongly oppose any attack. They, it seems, have seen what is in front of them. Meade is dissuaded.

And it is just as well, because the next day brings yet more torrential rain. Instead of attacking Meade takes the counsel of his subordinates and goes out looking for himself. He spends the day conducting a personal reconnaissance in the driving rain. Now he has seen the strength of Lee's positions, but he still thinks that a limited attack is needed, just to see if it might find a flaw in the defenses while Lee has his back up against the river. But the pressure from Washington continues to mount, and Meade is prepares to do what a good soldier sometimes has to do. He plans an attack along the same lines for the next day, the 14th. But on the morning of the 14th, yesterday, word reaches him…Lee has crossed the Potomac.

There will be a final skirmish as cavalry plunges in and attacks the last elements of Lee's Army before they slip across that final barrier. Essentially it was one of the VW Bugs trying to ram the Porche 911 at the last minute, but missing the Porche and slamming into the barrier wall. That attack frees a few hundred American prisoners, and captures a handful of wagons, but at a cost which was excessive compared to the returns. Then the last of the rebel soldiers makes his way across the river.

The Campaign of Gettysburg is over.

Tomorrow a little about historians, liars, memory, and stone.

That is all for today. I will be available in the comments section, but if you prefer to write to me (or if you want to do that as well as commenting) I can be reached at R_Bateman_LTC@hotmail.com.